Background and Scope - Tohoku, Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 - page 12

and 12.8% respectively). Located north of Sendai, Ishinomaki — the municipality
with the highest absolute number of losses — lost 5,795 people or about 5% of its
population (Yamamoto 2011).

Table 3. Summary of casualties in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures
Prefecture Iwate Fukushima Miyagi

Total Population 1,340,000

2,340,000 2,040,000

Population in
Inundated Areas

107,503 331,902 71,292

Fatalities 4,590 0.34% 4.3% 0.08%

9,306 0.40% 2.8% 1,600 2.2%

Range: Range:

0%-
9.1%

Range: 0.05%-

7.5%

0.14%-
4.5%

Missing 2,215 0.17% 2.1% 2,802 0.12% 0.8% 285 0.01% 0.4%

Range: Range:

0%-
8.0%

Range: 0.01%-

6.9%

0.07%-
3.7%

Fatalities +

6,805 0.51% 6.3% 12,108 0.52% 3.6% 1,885 0.09% 2.6%

Missing

Range: Range: 0%-

14.5%

Range: 0.1%-

12.8%

0.2%-
5.7%

Injured 186 0.01% 0.2% 3777 0.16% 1.1% 236 0.01% 0.3%

Figure 4 depicts the time progression of casualty reports in the four months after the
earthquake and tsunami. In prior events, such as the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake,
injuries outnumbered fatalities by a large amount. In the Great East Japan earthquake,
the reverse occurred, with fatalities far outnumbering injuries. People either died or
survived with few injuries. The ratio of fatalities to injuries resulted in less need of
emergency medical care and greater need for public health services for the survivors
(WHO 2011). According to autopsy records, 92.5% of the victims died from
drowning followed by much smaller percentages of fatalities from building collapse,
fire, and hypothermia. Age was also a contributing factor, with 65% of the victims
aged 60 years or older (Yomiyuri Shinbun 2011).

Immediately after the disaster, the number of people staying in evacuation shelters
rose quickly to over 440,000. This number included people evacuated from the
Fukushima nuclear power plant surroundings. As of June 16, approximately 31,000
people were staying in evacuation shelters, with an additional 81,000 displaced
persons (distributed roughly in thirds) staying in hotels, with friends and family, and
in temporary housing (WHO 2011).